Google Files for Patent to Unlock Phones Using Funny Face

As if we weren’t ridiculous enough taking pics with 10 inch tablets and talking on the phone using 7 inch slates, now we’re supposed to make faces in order to unlock our devices. Some people are already waving at the Galaxy S4 to trigger its various gestures and now a new Google patent seems to claim that we’ll have to stick out our tongues.

The patent was filed in June last year and it relies on Google’s facial recognition software, that could be configured to allow users to create a predefined facial gesture to unlock the device. Such gestures involve winking, moving the eyebrows, sticking out your tongue and more. Facial recognition was a feature on Android back from the days of the Galaxy Nexus, where it didn’t work so well at first.

That system was easily fooled by a picture of the user’s face, but then Google introduced a feature to check the liveness of the user. He was required to blink as the system identified the face. The new patent is pending and we even expect it to reach Google Glass some day. Imagine firing up your Glass by making faces on the street… Ridiculous, right?